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Technorati and Me

Technorati is indexing me again! They had to make a code change to fix
the problem with my blog getting stuck in their queue. Kudos to Eric M.
and the guys at
GetSatisfaction.com
where they have "community powered support for Technorati".

Well, they're "sorta, kinda" indexing me anyway. It's on a 24 hour tape
delay or something. So I never get picked up by Memeorandum because they
pull from Technorati and Technorati has stuff I posted yesterday
listed as my latest blog entry. And that's old news to Memeorandum.

Wankers.

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A new report from a watchdog group shows that the number of limousines owned
by the federal government rose by 73 percent during the first two years of
President Obama's administration. The State Department was the recipient of
the most new luxury vehicles.

The State Department's luxury vehicle of choice? The Cadillac DTS. With a
whopping combined fuel ecomony rating of 18 mpg.

Limousine Liberals riding in style at our expense! Can you feel the Hope and
Change?

When a tumultuous line of thunderstorms rolled through early this morning our
first thought was, uh oh, the parade's gonna get rained out. Not a chance! By
9 AM it was overcast, but clearing, and the line of marchers assembling along
Forest Avenue stretched farther than I could see. As we made our way down
Bloomfield Avenue with the other Brownies and Girl Scouts I was pleased to
see so many friends and neighbors had turned out to honor America's war dead.

Who's that guy with the giant coffee cup?

West Caldwell Mayor Joe Tempesta
spoke eloquently at the closing ceremonies, reminding us of what it means
to serve our country and pay the ultimate price.

We often hear that freedom has a price and that each generation pays its due.
Today is our day to say thank you to those who for generations have foot the
bill; to those who have paid so dearly-with their lives. And to their families
and friends whose lives are forever changed and to whom we owe an enormous debt.

We must teach others, particularly our children, about the sacrifices that have
been made on our behalf so that we might continue to enjoy the liberties and
freedoms granted in our Constitution.

We must help future generations understand that, politics aside, the act of
committing yourself to your country and being willing to fight for the freedom
of others is among the most noble of endeavors.

We must find ways to ensure the legacy of our heroes endures in what has become
a "sound-bite" culture. These dedicated men and women are worth more than that
— more than a 20-second sound-bite. Their history deserves telling and
re-telling. Find a way in your life—at work or home, at church or a youth
group meeting, wherever—to keep their memories alive. Honor their
sacrifices, tell their stories, and cherish their memories.

According to
some new research, mosquitoes have a keen sense of smell, attuned to
foot odor.

And where there's funky feet, there's a way to send mosquitoes into
olfactory overload.

"It is not the amount of odors produced, but which particular odors and ratio
between them that makes a difference. Finding these odors and their respective
ratio's brings us one step closer to manipulating the mosquito's behavior."

Entomologist Daniel Kline did an experiment with dirty socks. Really
dirty socks, that he'd worn for 3 days in a row.

Mosquitoes were drawn to those socks like white on rice.

So don't throw out your old gym shoes. Park 'em in the corner at your next
outdoor party and watch the mosquitoes leave everyone alone!

Oh, what's that? HuffPo's cub reporter didn't mention that his big bogeyman,
a Right Wing Conspiracy to reveal Wayne Myers' employer, came in
the comments section of an Open Thread over at Ace's place? And there was
no followup? Hmmm.

Yeah, context is important, isn't it. Too bad you don't get that from Mr.
Bonafide Journalist.

Speaking of bonafide journalism, it really is bad form to publish private
e-mail. I declined Jimmy Olsen's request for an ambush
interview because he said he's too important to do them via email. Then
he went and used my email response!

HuffPo's journalist is also a little fast and loose with the monikers. I said
I wasn't a "reporter, just a blogger with a day job." Reinbach wrote "he's
… not a journalist — something few journalists would dispute."
Reporter, Journalist, Guy with a Day Job; yeah, The New York Times
can't tell the difference either.

Ever hear of Paul Mulshine, you guys are on the same page when it comes to
citizen journalism. In case you're wondering, that would be The Wrong Page.

Anyhoo, here's the rest of what I wrote, in full:

So you're cheesed because somebody looked up Wayne Myers' political donations?
You do know that's public information, right? Go to
http://opensecrets.org/
where they conveniently index the Congressionally mandated FEC database. The
database includes the employer info, which the donor is required by law to
disclose. Complaining about people finding that info online is kinda like
complaining about the weather.

Not that any of you anonymous Obama donors care about campaign finance laws!
But the rest of us? Yeah, we care. Apparently so does Wayne Myers. See, the
comment entry reproduced the FEC listing for Mr. Myers' political donations
(to a fellow named Barack Obama) wherein one of the data elements is his
employers' name.

The key takeaway though? The donation's recipient. Wayne Myers made a big
deal of how he was a "Republican." Amy's aunt said the whole family was
GOP through and through. Maybe Mr. Myers confused Obama with McCain, it
was kinda easy to do if you weren't paying attention. Still, you gotta
admit, it is interesting. And relevant.

Back to the emails. One thing I won't do is publish Andrew Reinbach's emails
to me. Good thing too, he needs to reacquaint himself with spellcheck. Dude
didn't even spell my name right! Would you trust the accuracy
of a "journalist" who's too lazy to spell your name right? (Speaking
of Spellchek, great blogger, you
guys should check him out. Tell him I said "hi.")

And finally, the whole high dudgeon thing about the Right Wing Hate Machine?
Puh-lease. Can Andrew Reinbach be the only liberal who's never heard of Saul
Alinsky? Liberals started the personal attack game! Remember Joe The Plumber?

If someone asked, "are you proud to be an American?", who would say no?

But, what does it really mean to be an American?

My friend the Mind Numbed Robot recently
asked that question. And I want you to know that the answer is very
important.

The wrong answer is the difference between Freedom, and slavery.

Either you are an asset to society or you are a burden on it.

Think about that for a minute.

There are many people in this country, far too many in my opinion, who
believe the solution to every problem lies within a government program.

We've lost our self-reliance gene. Little by little, generation by generation,
the ideals of our Founding Fathers have been beaten down, until it seems
perfectly natural to demand what your country can do for you rather than ask
what you can do for your country.

So long, of course, as someone else pays for it. "The Rich," for example.
Or "corporations." They've got all the money!

What happens when the citizenry realizes they can vote to give themselves
free stuff? I think we're about to find out.

The entitlement behemoth will collapse. Of that there is no doubt.

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which
permit this norm to be exceeded- here and there, now and then- are the work
of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and
almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority
is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society,
the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as "bad luck."
— Robert A. Heinlein

It's time to take a stand. The upcoming presidential election is likely to be
the defining moment for our children's future. Four more years of unchecked
deficit spending will result in a country that might still be called "America"
but it won't be
American.

America is not a place, it is a set of ideals. All it takes to become an
American is to embrace these ideals. As far as I am concerned, Bibi Netanyahu
is an American. I would further venture to say that even if one were born in
America, that is not enough. If one has spent their entire life undercutting,
demeaning and undermining these same values, they have become something other
than American, they have become an ideologue and deserving of the title traitor.

I am not talking about patriotism here. Americanism is an obedience to the
Constitution, a reverence for it, a willingness to comply with it, to honor it.
There has been a great movement of late to destroy Americanism, to replace it
with some sort of quasi-Europeanism. An understanding of Americanism has waned.
Do you know what it is? John Wayne was an American, before the 1960's
generation tried to dismantle his creed and replace it with someone they found
more noble, someone like John Lennon.

Yes, I can imagine if there were no heaven, no countries, no religion. Just
"peace."

I was asked one time by a preacher if I wouldn't like world peace. I told him
"no sir, I wouldn't like that at all." He was a bit surprised and asked me why
I wouldn't care for world peace. My answer to him is something you all should
think about when people speak of peace. The only way for the world to find peace
is through oppression. Anywhere ideas are free to be expressed there will be
disagreement, conflict and war. Peace can only be purchased by oppression and
tyranny. Peace is preferred by those willing to do anything other than endure
conflict. They value peace over freedom. They prefer your imprisonment over
their discomfort.

That's
T.L. Davis, by the way. I wish I could write like him. I wish I had his
courage.

I live in a Blue town, in a Blue county, in a predominantly Blue state. My
political views are, as my wife gently puts it, unpopular around
here. Recently she took down my Tea Party lawn sign because she said it made
the neighbors uncomfortable.

They're good people, the neighbors are. They work. They pay their taxes. They
play with their children in the park. Of course they are Americans,
even as they vote reflexively for candidates who are the antithesis of what
T.L. or I would recognize as worthy successors to Jefferson, Adams, Madison,
or Reagan.

Seventeen months. We have seventeen months to get it right, to decide if we
remember what it means to be an American. T.L. kicked me in the ass:

You know what it takes to be one. SO, are you? Can you prove it? What are you
willing to do to ensure it?

I'm putting my lawn sign back, that's for damn sure!

The longer that question goes unanswered, the more it will take to answer it.
They are making laws against being American and have been for a long time. When
you decide to be an American, it may be too late, it may be completely illegal.
What will you do then? Or, are you just too proud to be an American anymore? It
might be too much trouble, it might make you unpopular.

In a blow to clean energy advocates throughout the Northeast, Gov. Chris
Christie said this morning that the state will pull out of the region's
cap-and-trade program by the end of the year.

"This program is not effective in reducing greenhouse gases and is unlikely
to be in the future," Christie said at a press conference in the Statehouse.

...Under the program, power plant operators buy credits at quarterly auctions
for the carbon dioxide they emit. Proceeds are then to be used to pay for
renewable energy initiatives. The program had raised more than $860 million
through March.

But several states, including New Jersey, have raided their portion of the
proceeds to fill budget gaps. Christie took $65.2 million from the state's
Global Warming Solutions Fund to balance the current budget.

So, like most Globull Warming mitigation schemes, it's long on "tax" and
short on actual results. But the Sierra Club says it's "vital!" Can you say,
"Econut Slush Fund?" Sure, I knew you could.

The Neptune, NJ high school graduation ceremony will go on. And it will
still be held in the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove. But no one can enter
via the front door, and the walls will be draped with bedsheets to shield
attendees eyes from the grandeur of Methodist religious iconography.

For decades, the records of a 1944 tax fraud investigation involving Lyndon
Johnson were hidden away in the dresser drawer of a former Internal Revenue
Service investigator who told his family to never mention their existence.

Now, the seldom-seen papers about the future president have been acquired by
Princeton University and are available to anyone who wants to read them,
officials at the Ivy League school said today.

Johnson was an up-and-coming congressman from Texas when the IRS began
investigating contributions to his failed 1941 U.S. Senate campaign. Though
only one researcher has ever seen records of the probe, scholars believe
then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt's White House intervened and quashed an
investigation that could have derailed the budding career of the young Democrat.

Princeton's Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library acquired the records of the
investigation from Julia Werner Gary, the daughter of IRS investigator Elmer
Charles Werner, campus officials said. The donation includes Werner's diaries
from 1942-45, which Princeton officials said have never been seen by LBJ
researchers.

"My parents were concerned they would lose their jobs if it were discovered
that they had these documents concerning LBJ," said Gary, of Alabama.

The papers stayed in the bottom drawer of her father's dresser for years as
Johnson rose from congressman to vice president to president, Gary said. Her
parents told her not to tell anyone about them when she was growing up.

After her father's death in 1965, Gary's mother, who worked in the tax
department in Georgia, feared losing her job if the papers got out. She
was still worried about the documents on her deathbed in 1997, her daughter
said.

Paying taxes is for the little people. Apparently so are campaign finance laws.
The IRS investigation into LBJ concerned donations to his failed 1941 Senate
campaign by Brown & Root, a Texas building firm that had been accused of using
the congressman to push for changes to federal rules related to profitable dam
building projects.

They couldn't even garner a majority of the 7 member NJ State Supreme Court but
the teachers unions won a "victory" today when a 3-2 plurality (two justices
recused themselves) ruled they deserve another $500 million of our tax dollars.

Remember that number, $500 million, because it's significant.

Three unelected judges, acting in situ for the governor and state
legislature, decreed that spending $23,000 per year on a poor child's education
is not enough. Let that sink in. They're not calling for more money
for every NJ student,
just the students in the 31 sainted Abbott districts, who already receive
the lion's share of state education funding.

Not that those districts make good use of the money they already receive;
their test scores are consistently at the very bottom of the barrel. But
we're supposed to meekly keep throwing money at a failing system? According
to the three member plurality, yes.

Associate Justices Roberto Rivera-Soto and Helen Hoens in the minority opinion
explicitly emphasized the illegitimacy of this ruling. Three justices cannot
speak for a seven member court:

Associate Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto dissented, arguing that there weren't
enough affirmative votes to require the state to follow the order. Joined by
Associate Justice Helen Hoens, he argued that, as a matter of practice, four
affirmative votes are needed to grant a motion.

"Although unwritten, that practice is borne out by the relevant empirical data,"
Rivera-Soto wrote.

He said the only cases decided by a 3-2 decision were temporary injunctions,
not permanent rulings. Because of the gravity of the case, he wrote, "it is
simply incomprehensible that any impartial observer would give them equal
dignity."

Ah, the teachers unions are far from "impartial." They're salivating at
another $500 million for their coffers.

But wait, even the 3 justice plurality is tinged with unconstitutionality.
Only two of them are confirmed, permanent members of the Court. Associate
Justices Jaynee LaVecchia and Barry Albin were joined in their "majority" by
Appellate Judge Edwin Stein, a temporary replacement assigned to the court on
an interim basis to replace Associate Justice John Wallace, Jr., who was not
renominated by Governor Christie.

Yeah I know, you need a scorecard to keep up, but bear with me.

Because Senate President Steve Sweeney won't hold confirmation hearings on a
replacement for Wallace the swing vote on this long-standing and very
controversial case came from a judge who never faced State Senate scrutiny
for the role he now plays.

So you tell me. Can two legitimate justices of a seven member court speak
for "the majority," let alone dictate to the governor, the legislature, and
the people?

Nope! And herein we discover why that figure of $500 million dollars is just
so darn convenient. See, it's the exact dollar amount the State
Treasurer recently reported as a windfall from better than expected tax
receipts. The governor was planning to use that money to replenish the state's
property tax rebate program.

Now along comes our merry band of social justice leaguers, eager to redistribute
ever larger gobs of tax money to the Abbott districts. But Governor Christie had
hinted he'd defy the court if they ordered payment of the full $1.7 billion
dollars the union toadies at the Education Law Center demanded in their court
filing. What's a shaky plurality to do?

Snatch that $500 million out of the rebate fund and call it a day! They
figure Christie's got the money so he won't defy their order (which to be
honest would precipitate an even larger constitutional crisis). And since
the unions didn't get every dime they wanted they're sure to be back before
the court next year, when hopefully a replacement for Wallace is confirmed
and/or the two justices who recused themselves from this round have a change
of heart.

The wisdom of Solomon it ain't. But it sure smells like New Jersey politics
as usual.

A lot of rumors have been flying in the lefty blogosphere and Twitterverse
concerning alleged "threats" directed at Amy Myers by Tea Partyers and other
nefarious "Right Wing" operators (like
me).

Amy Myers is the 16 year old budding Constitutional Scholar from Cherry Hill,
NJ who recently
challenged Rep. Michele Bachmann to a debate. Some of us reacted with
disdain, but her father soon took to the airwaves and interwebs to
proclaim that Amy feared for her personal safety. Right-wingers had threatened
to rape her!

All along we had the feeling that
the threat assessment was overblown, especially since no one has produced
a single screen shot, tweet, or crayon drawing to corroborate such serious
allegations.

After reading this article, and probably not reading the original articles at
City Pages & Yahoo, several seem to be posting many false beliefs and
accusations about my daughter's actions or mine. It hasn't yet escalated to
calling her names and the like, but after seeing some of these posts... it
won't be long.

Objection!, Your Honor, Conjecture!

"It won't be long." WTF?

I haven't yet won the lottery, but since my wife keeps buying tickets...
it won't be long!

See where I'm going with this? The "threats", they exist only in Wayne Myers'
fevered imagination. One could almost believe, and trust me I'm just thinking
out loud here, that Wayne Myers wants there to be threats, so he can
validate his own twisted progressive HuffPo worldview. They're the Good Guys,
and it's us evil Tea-Bagger Rethuglicans who'll stop at nothing to thwart the
dawning of the new utopia.

Now c'mon you guys, if you're gonna retweet me, next time try to make me look
good, OK?

Irony meter alert — when TrendingRight.com launched
I said, "it's like Memeorandum, without the progbots." What put me on
TrendingRight.com today? Progbots!

The blogging gods, they mock me.

On the plus side, for most of today my
Patricia Heaton post was the top search result returned by Yahoo! on her
name and yowza did the hits roll in. And they keep coming! (I'm currently
down to #9, but still on the coveted first page!)

I thought this old vax might melt under the strain, but she's a workhorse
and so far all customers are satisfied and happy. Been getting some good
comments out of it as well.

Yet it's a largely symbolic move, considering Chris Christie's dedication to
protecting the unborn by vetoing the measure the first 3,479 times she brought
it up. The Merchants of Death don't have the votes to override another veto.

Please Loretta, stop wasting everyone's time. I know you think there's a new
piggy bank for the taking, what with an "extra" $500 million or so landing in
the state's lap last month. But spending every last cent is how you Democrats
got us into this mess in the first place. Knock it off already! The money is
better off providing some badly need tax relief, not filling the
coffers of Abortion, Inc.

It should interest you too Loretta to learn that
the vast majority of Americans are pro-life. Public funding for Planned
Parenthood flies in the face of all that is decent and morally right and we
are not going to stand for it. Not now. Not ever.

So as a public service, let me save them a bit of time. All you guys have to
do is subscribe to the Star-Ledger. They're already doing the heavy
lifting in the anti-Christie department. Editor-in-Chief Tom Moran never
misses an opportunity to take a swipe at the governor. And lead op-ed
columnist Bob In-The-Pocket-Of-The-Public-Employee-Unions Braun gets front
page real estate for every one of his Christie-hates-puppies-and-eats-babies
bromides.

Really, the Ledger is so blatant about it that the FEC should just take
their gross revenue figures and count them as an in-kind contribution to the DNC.

Every other week or so the paper breathlessly reports on another poll
which shows Obama beating Christie in a hypothetical presidential matchup.
Polls, which BTW they presumably conduct by asking for a show of hands
inside their newsroom.

When you read between the lines though, some things become clear.

They wouldn't be so ready to shoot down a Christie candidacy unless they were
pretty scared of him really throwing his hat into the ring.

And, for a guy who's not running for president, Chris Christie polls
remarkably well. He's not exactly a household name outside the Northeast and
he's still only 8 points behind The Greatest President In The History Of
The World.

For all their emphasis on the margin of Barry's hypothetical lead the most
interesting statistic shows he's quite vulnerable to a strong challenger:

In the poll of 1,000 likely U.S. voters, Obama received 43 percent and
Christie 35 percent of the support.

Last time I looked, 43 percent of the vote was not enough to win re-election.

Where's the proof? Surely a tech-savvy, 16-year-old Constitutional Scholar,
has proof of such serious allegations?

Uh, no.

First, they haven't shown proof. No screen captures, no links, nothing. These
two are social-media-savvy enough to upload to
iReport and run a
Facebook page dedicated to this publicity stunt debate,
but they didn't blog or otherwise document these heinous acts?

Second, the father claimed that the school had received threatening mail...
but the school says the calls they've received were questions about whether
Myers is a student, who wrote the letter to Bachmann, and similar inquiries.

Bastnagel said the district's security director told Wayne Myers none of the
calls contained threats. He also assured Myers the district would investigate
any threats.

The father also claims to have his mail carrier and a neighbor who works for
the state police watching for "suspicious activity." But the Cherry Hill Police
Department denies there is a stalker, nor has anyone from the Myers household
reported any threats to them.

But here's where it gets interesting. Digging in to Wayne Myers' online
activities
@breitbartfan77 on Twitter
discovered he is a bonafide Huffington Post nutjob with the handle of
studmoose. He's a huge anti-Tea-Party agitator, garnering the
"Superuser" badge from Arianna herself.

Hmmmm.

And, he's more than a little bit paranoid, too. At the last minute Mr. Myers
backed out of a video interview he'd scheduled for Amy with the Courier
Post:

Myers said he did not want Amy on video because he believes it would benefit
Bachmann.

"We just don't want her going over any of the positions she's going to have,"
he said. "We're going to keep things under wraps until the debate occurs.

"If she does the video interview, they might find certain weaknesses. We don't
want to bring up what her debate strategy is going to be."

Translation: This is dad's stunt, and little Amy would come off like a deer
in the headlights if she has to speak for herself on camera.

What we have here is an unhinged liberal activist preaching to the choir.
They expect Tea Partyers to be misogynistic haters because that is
the stereotype they've created. But in reality I would stake my reputation
on any actual threats being quickly and vehemently shouted down by folks from
the Right. That's how we roll. We debate ideas, not personalities.

William Haney, founder of the West Jersey Tea Party, said it was premature to
associate those making anonymous threats against Myers with the Tea Party or
Bachmann.

"I certainly would be interested in seeing those threats rather than taking
the word of a parent," he said.

Like Scratcher said, it's all Bullshit. There is no proof.

@amyteamamy on twitter
"@breitbartfan77 Check Sean Hannity's website along with the Yahoo! articles.
People are blinded by their disdain for me."

He did check. and found nothing, zilch, nada.

I've checked-and encourage you to double check
no death threats, no threats to publish addresses, no threats of rape.

Amy Myers, your fifteen minutes are up. You've accomplished what you obviously
set out to do, get your name out there in front of the admissions officers
for Bard College and The New School. Congratulations on differentiating
yourself from The Hive while maintaining full solidarity with The Collective.

Arianna Huffington is just bursting with pride.

UPDATE 22 May 2011 14:39:Note: I updated the headline to more accurately reflect that it's Amy's father who's on Arianna's (virtual) payroll.

How?, Is pointing out that Wayne Myers is a total nutjob who's using his
daughter to score points against Michele Bachmann an "attack" on anyone
other than Wayne Myers? Yeah, I know libtards don't do logic. Apparently
they don't do reading comprehension either.

The ever-tolerent lefties in Hollywood don't have very much actual tolerance
for TV stars with strong Christian and pro-life beliefs. Which I guess is
really only a surprise if you haven't been paying attention.

A lesser star might hide her politics. But where's the fun in that? The
lovely and talented Patricia Heaton is no shrinking violet, that's for damn
sure.

Known around left-leaning Hollywood for her conservative stances on weighty
issues like abortion and stem cells, 'Everybody Loves Raymond' star Patricia
Heaton is happy to explain how important her Christian faith is to her and how
it shapes her views and career choices.

"My feeling is all these things come from God and as long as I know I'm staying
in line with Him, I don't have to worry if there is backlash," she told me
during a visit to AOL's New York offices. "God will open any doors he wants to
open and if he closes doors that's fine too."

Saying her Hollyweird colleagues equate her with conservative "lunatics" Ms.
Heaton acknowledges that her political views hamper her acting career.

"We know for a fact there are some people who have said they wouldn't want to
work with us because of our politics," she said, with her husband David Hunt
adding, "We get lumped in with lunatics."

Well, it's not like she's a communist…

"Mr. Welch? It's Senator McCarthy on line 2."

Yeah I know, the Irony Meter doesn't swing left.

It must be tough though, enduring the brickbats and whispered innuendos. Come
out gay and you're some kind of hero. Come out conservative and you're a freak.

At least she's got a sense of humor about it. If the pantywaist poobahs of
Mulholland Drive won't hire her, she'll make her own damn movies!

Patricia has teamed up with her director-husband to produce and distribute
their own show, 'Versailles,' a new 8-part comedy web series airing on
My Damn Channel. Patricia plays a deceased B-movie actress whose presence
looms large over her two children (one played by David) as they produce a
public access talk show.

"I don't think I could have afforded her if we weren't married," David jokes.
"I was a bigger star then she was when I met her. She owes me. I took a decade
off my career to raise the kids. Plus, a big bonus is she gets to sleep with
the director."

November 6, 2009:
In a surprise visit to the Press Secretary's daily briefing with the press,
President Obama fired back at conservatives gathering on the other side of
Washington D.C. yesterday. He broke in to share with reporters the information
that the AARP (American Associate of Retired Persons) and the AMA (American
Medical Association) had endorsed the healthcare legislation that will be voted
on in the next few days. He called these major endorsements and told Americans
that they could stop listening to fear mongers and storytellers now that these
organizations were on board.

So, riddle me this Batman. If Obamacare is indeed so fucking wonderful, why did
the AARP
ask for, and
just receive, a waiver from it?

The Daily Caller has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) rate review rules, which it finalized on Thursday, exempt "Medigap"
policy providers, like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP),
from oversight when such providers increase payment rates for their
supplemental insurance plans.

Come to think of it, being exempted from Obamacare would be pretty wonderful,
wouldn't it? Maybe that's what they meant!

If there was any doubt left that Barack Hussein Obama is in fact a Muslim, and
perhaps even the reincarnation of Yasser Arafat, then there isn't any more.

Yesterday, the president of the United States
threw Israel under a bus. The ostensible leader of the Free World acceded
to terrorism. Barack Hussein Obama, who says he's a Christian, advocated the
destruction of every remaining Jewish and Christian holy site in the Middle East.

Obama's plan calls for
the Tomb of Jesus to fall into the hands of Hamas. And then, Palestinian
animals will finish turning the Church of the Holy Sepulchre into a
latrine, all for the glory of their pedophile prophet. Islamic terrorists
would like nothing more than to literally shit on the site of Christ's
resurrection.

Because that is the price of "peace?"

No. Wherever Palestinians go, death and destruction follow surely as night
follows day. They are the darkness, extinguishing the Light of the World.

Each Passover they attempt yet again to
burn Joseph's Tomb to the ground. They've laid claim to Rachel's Tomb too,
saying it is the site of their very first Victory Mosque, even though "peace"
treaties with Jordan explicitly identify the tomb as a purely Jewish holy site.

But what do monsters care about peace? Or treaties?

Likewise, the
destruction of the 3000 year old Temple Mount will be ruthlessly completed.
Many antiquities, including The
Cedars of Lebanon are already gone, Waqf wackos are certain to obliterate any
remaining Jewish artifacts buried there. The puss-oozing sore which is their
dome of the rock mosque will then reign supreme over the Holy Land for thousands
of years, mocking us with its vileness.

The message of our child-president could not have been more clear: Dear
Israel, Fuck Off And Die. Under his "plan" the murderers of countless
innocent Jews are rewarded for their depravity. It's not "land for
peace." It's land as a reward for terrorism.

Only a fool believes that prostrating herself before Hamas will bring Israel
peace. The Palestinians do not want peace. The Palestinians want dead Jews.

Remember they've already had the 1967 borders. In 1967. Did they live in
peace? Or did they attack Israel? Why in the name of God should we allow
them to repeat history?

The White House Press Office has refused to give the Boston Herald full access
to President Obama's Boston fund-raiser today, in e-mails objecting to the
newspaper's front page placement of a Mitt Romney op-ed, saying pool reporters
are chosen based on whether they cover the news "fairly."

"I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering
the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,"
White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for
full access to the presidential visit.

As Instapundit says of college graduates today, they're "credentialed, not
educated." We can now add "classless" to that, too.

Two days ago graduates of Seton Hall University in South Orange
booed Governor Chris Christie as he gave their commencement speech. Many
of the protesters received Teaching Certificates, and seeing as how their job
prospects are dim in these tough economic times, the NJEA playbook demands that
they heckle the governor. There's nothing like getting a head start on that
union activism, right?

Today it was Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno's turn, and she experienced William
Paterson University's version of a warm graduation welcome.
Amid boos and catcalls she attempted to address the graduates.

"Come on," Guadagno said at one point, as the boos grew louder. "We've got
all day."

And obviously they've got no manners. Check out this classy guy:

I hope this young man (his name is Stanley Joseph btw) has a job already
lined up. Because, is that, or is that not, a picture that just screams,
"Hire me!"

I'm thinking it's a "no" on Stanley's job front though. He's upset because he
has to start paying back his student loans. Apparently he was led to believe
his college education should have been free.

If this is how William Paterson University taught him to behave, then I agree
with at least one part of his lament. Dude, you overpaid for that diploma.

Ever notice that the same liberals who cackle with glee when "democracy"
results in Congress enacting another utopian social program are also first
on the scene to champion the "rights" of a lone dissenter when it comes to
feigned outrage over the separation of Church and State?

Yeah, I'm talking about those freedom-hating fanatics at the ACLU. Last year
their activism on behalf of same-sex "marriage" forced the Methodists of the
Ocean Grove, NJ Camp Meeting Association
to go out of the wedding business.

Now they're back, this time
with threats of a lawsuit to prevent the Methodist's Great Auditorium from
being used for a public high school graduation ceremony.

A New Jersey high school with a 70-year tradition of hosting graduation
ceremonies in a historic auditorium is standing firm against legal threats
from the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the event violates the
separation of church and state because of the Christian-owned site's religious
displays.

For generations, graduates of Neptune High School have walked down the aisle of
the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, where the impressive 6,500-seat venue
dominates the landscape of one of the area's most historic beach towns. Built
in 1894, the auditorium is owned and operated by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting
Association, a Methodist group that owns not just the building, but all of the
land beneath every home and structure in town.

The ACLU of New Jersey threatened legal action against the Neptune school
district after an attendee at last year's graduation ceremony took offense to
the building's religious symbols and Christian-based references -- among them
a 20-foot white cross above the auditorium's entrance. The ACLU asked the
school to remove or cover up the cross and three other religious signs,
arguing their visibility during a public school event is a First Amendment
violation.

School officials responded by agreeing to change the graduation program to
remove the student-led invocation and two hymns -- one titled "Onward Christian
Soldiers" -- to rid the ceremony of any religious references.

"The program was not of a religious nature -- it was more tradition than
anything else," said Neptune Public Schools Superintendent David Mooij. "But
we decided we would change the program and delete the things this individual
found offensive."

One killjoy and 70 years of tradition goes down the drain. Democracy that
ain't!

But the Anti-Christian Liberty Usurpers aren't satisfied. The cross, and
all religious emblems, have to get shit-canned too to satisfy their precious
sensibilities.

Listen, if the sight of a wooden cross gives you the vapors then you've got
bigger problems than the venue for your graduation ceremony. Hiding the cross
won't make those problems go away.

Remember when the liberals laughed at John Ashcroft for (allegedly) covering
up some anatomically correct statues? That's ridiculous, right? But hiding
a cross isn't likewise ridiculous?

The Camp Meeting Association, and the school board, are standing
firm.

"The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is a Christian ministry, and we can't
change who we are," said Scott Hoffman, the group's chief operating officer. "We
want this tradition to keep going as badly as anyone, but not at the expense of
who we are."

As for now, Mooij said the school has every intention of sticking with its
graduation plans.

"There's a lot of tradition in this community about using this building," he
said. "We're hoping that it could be resolved through negotiations," he said,
"But we aren't there yet."

The ACLU has traditions of their own Mr. Mooij; mostly a long tradition of
over-reacting to any reminder that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian
principles. Alas, no matter what they might say, "freedom of
religion" does not equate to "freedom from religion." Really,
it doesn't.

I imagine this whiny kid is going to collect some cash from friends and
relatives after receiving his diploma. If he's really so offended by religious
imagery he'll refuse those gifts. After all, every piece of U.S. currency is
emblazoned with the terrifying words "In God We Trust." God, right
there in his pocket. That's gotta be worse than the mere glimpse of a cross!

Once upon a time there were Democrats who extolled the virtues of limited
government and the merits of free enterprise. President Grover Cleveland
(born right here in Caldwell, NJ!) was such a Democrat.

Instapundit linked an excerpt from his
Second Inaugural Address, given at a time when America was in the grip
of a grave financial crisis, and thus apropos to the problems we face today.

Every thoughtful American must realize the importance of checking at its
beginning any tendency in public or private station to regard frugality and
economy as virtues which we may safely outgrow. The toleration of this idea
results in the waste of the people's money by their chosen servants and
encourages prodigality and extravagance in the home life of our countrymen.

Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against
the citizen, and the contempt of our people for economy and frugality in their
personal affairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our national
character.

It is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that public expenditures
should be limited by public necessity, and that this should be measured by the
rules of strict economy; and it is equally clear that frugality among the people
is the best guaranty of a contented and strong support of free institutions.

As for "redistribution of wealth?" Let's just say Old Grover wasn't a fan:

When we proclaim that the necessity for revenue to support the Government
furnishes the only justification for taxing the people, we announce a truth
so plain that its denial would seem to indicate the extent to which judgment
may be influenced by familiarity with perversions of the taxing power. And
when we seek to reinstate the self-confidence and business enterprise of our
citizens by discrediting an abject dependence upon governmental favor, we
strive to stimulate those of American character which support the hope of
American achievement.

Wow. Can you imagine Barack Obama even comprehending the wisdom of
Grover Cleveland? Ensuring the citizenry's "abject dependence upon
governmental favor" by "perversions of the taxing power" is the raison
d'etre of the Obamunists!

The oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the
United States not only impressively defines the great responsibility I assume,
but suggests obedience to constitutional commands as the rule by which my
official conduct must be guided. I shall to the best of my ability and within
my sphere of duty preserve the Constitution by loyally protecting every grant
of Federal power it contains, by defending all its restraints when attacked by
impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing its limitations and reservations
in favor of the States and the people.

Now that my friends is a man who understood Federalism. I wonder if he
drank tea?

On the occasion of of my fourth blogaversary I thought I'd defer to a guest
blogger, someone whom I encountered on my recent trip to Washington, DC, and
whose off-the-beaten-path memorial far removed from the National Mall is not
generally the highlight of anyone's conventional tour.

Yet his eloquence moved me, and as best as I can recall he is said to have
once murmured something like this:

Four Years and Seven Million Score Words Ago a middle-aged man brought forth
upon the Intertubes a new blog, conceived to advance Liberty, and dedicated to
the proposition that On The Internet No One Can Tell If You're A Dog.

Now we are engaged in an epic battle, testing whether that blog, or any blog
so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on the
great battlefield of Ideas, having come to rededicate ourselves to the task
of ensuring that our Great Nation might once again live free. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should stand for Liberty against the forces of
darkness and Obamunism.

But in a larger sense, it is not up to a single blogger to turn the tide of
the Progressive onslaught. The many brave men and women who have come before
him, along with those who will soon join in his quest, have blazed the path
of Righteousness farther along than his one voice could hope to advance. The
blogosphere may little note, nor long remember, the words he has committed
to the ether, but the Google Cache never forgets, and it archives every post
on the off chance Instapundit has nothing better to link to on a slow news day.

It is nigh for him, the blogger, to be redoubled in his pursuit of the
unfinished work which has, thus far, so nobly been received by his readership.
It is for you, the peruser of his prose, to remain steadfast in your dedication
to the great task remaining before us — that we here together highly
resolve that his blog shall not have been published in vain; and that he may
continue to blog to advance the cause of Freedom; and that we shall overcome
the notion that the people exist to serve their government; ensuring instead
that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not
ever again be given over to the Liberals, who for certain would have it perish
from the earth.

The inscription at the base of his statue said simply, Wolverines!,
and I knew straightaway that I was on hallowed ground. Either that, or
those last lunch truck burritos really packed a wallop.

So, Happy Blogaversary To Me!

Yes, I plan to keep on doing this, for Four More Years, and then some. There
are still liberals to annoy, and more sacred cows to skewer. There are miles
to go before we sleep. And leaving nothing to chance, together we will once
again restore the glory of our Founding Fathers' vision of America as that
shining city on the hill.

So, what's a bunch of spendthrifts gonna do when their credit cards are maxed
out and the bank account's gone empty?
Raid the retirement fund!

The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help
fund operations after the government lost its ability Monday to borrow more
money from the public.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who has already suspended a program
that helps state and local government manage their finances, will begin to
borrow from retirement funds for federal workers.

Ruh roh. This won't end well.

And, nevermind that if a private company tried doing this the entire management
team would go to jail.

The measure won't have an impact on retirees because the Treasury is legally
required to reimburse the program.

ROFL. Listen up guys, if you believe that one, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn
you can have, cheap.

New Jersey pulled this stunt a few decades ago. And when the politicians
discovered just how much fun it was they dove in with real gusto. They piled
loan upon loan. Now our public pension plan is gutted, bordering on insolvency.
And I assure you, the state may also be "legally required" to make it whole,
but since the well has run dry all the legal requirements in the world don't
mean a hill of beans.

Tim Geithner and Barack Obama surely know how this game ends. They're just
counting on all you federal workers not being smart enough to see through
their guile.

You know what's funny? ("funny" ironic, not "funny" ha-ha) If it was
a Republican raiding their cookie jar the public employee unions would be
marching on Washington with pitchforks and boiling oil. But with all they've
invested in putting Captain Hopenchange in charge they're naively banking on
a magic unicorn around the corner who'll solve all their problems.

Worthless pieces of paper. "Special Issue Bonds" aka "Intragovernmental debt."
But not "debt" in the classic sense where it's listed as a liability on
America's balance sheet like what what we owe to China. In fact these Special
Issue Bonds aren't carried on the books anywhere and they're definitely not
included in the National Debt.

Social Security has to live off what it takes in. And it's no longer taking
in enough money to pay out all the benefits which have been promised.

New Jersey certainly has its quota of Ted Kennedy environmentalists. Like
Ted they prattle on about how "green power" is the answer to all our problems
right up until the wind farm solar array might spoil their
view.

The Birkenstock Set in Upper Pittsgrove Township has their panties in a wad
because a proposed 177 acre solar array would be a blight on their "scenic
vistas."

All those Chevy Volts we're supposed to be buying need electricity, right?
And when it comes to generating electricity, what's more "green" than solar
power?

Presumably they're planning to rely on the Magic Unicorn Theory of power
distribution — flip a lightswitch and electricity simply appears
out of thin air. However I'm told that the physics behind their scheme
is shaky at best.

Meanwhile clean, safe, economical nuclear power languishes under a mountain
of FUD. FUD, I might add, that is directly attributable to the very same
anti-solar-panel and anti-power-line ecowarriors. It's almost like they
aren't serious about finding alternatives to fossil fuels. Unless the
alternative they have in mind is for us to freeze in the dark.

Amy Myers is a tenth grader in Cherry Hill, NJ. She labels herself as "a
typical high school student." (More on that later.)

Michele Bachmann is the distinguished Congresswoman from the 6th
district of Minnesota. She is a founding member of the House Tea Party Caucus
and is being strongly urged to consider a run for the presidency.

The progbot blogs are giddy. They're positively salivating over the
prospect of Rep. Bachmann responding to Myers' "challenge", which she posted
on the internet as an open letter.

Let's have a look-see, shall we?

Dear Representative Bachmann,

My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry
Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a
few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the
quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be
factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency
and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.

How many "typical high school students" know the name of their own
Congressman, let alone devote their attention to studying the speeches
of representatives from other states? Methinks Amy Myers is a plant,
or a brainwashed teen regurgitating the progressive pablum fed to her by
feminist radicals masquerading as tenured educators.

No? See for yourself:

Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a
United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national
media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your
causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in
Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent
your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to
not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though
politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and
by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often
generalize this shadow to women as a whole.

Amy Myers, future Womyn's Studies major! What a load of claptrap. Michele
Bachmann does not have the "responsibility to better represent
[her] gender nationally." She has the responsibility to effectively
represent the voters of her district. All of the voters, not
just the feminut ones. Yes, that means the men, too.

But who knew Michele Bachmann was so powerful that her statements "serve an
injustice to … women everywhere" because they are generalized to
"women as a whole?" I thought only Sarah Palin had the ability to drive the
batty old harridans to fits of apoplexy; now Michele Bachmann has Super Powers
too? Yes, it's BDS, The Sequel — Bachmann Derangement Syndrome!

Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and
factually present even the most basic information about the United States
led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against
your advanced legal education:

She's winding up, and here's the pitch! As Oscar Wilde said,
"In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than
themselves the full benefits of their inexperience."

I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public
Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United
States History and United States Civics.

Got turned down by the producers of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader,
eh Amy?

Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be
enlightening.

Sincerely yours,
Amy Myers

"Enlightening?" Why yes, I imagine it will be. For you Amy.

You see, everything you've been taught about the Constitution is wrong.

How do I know this? Because I too was subjected to the New Jersey public
school system. Sure that was back when Fred Flinstone was president, but
I don't imagine the curriculum has gotten any less "progressive,"
now has it?

In the 1970s Social Studies classes at Cedar Grove High School we were taught
"civics" through the time-honored methodology of reading New York Times
op-eds and editorials. When, of course, we weren't being tutored in the nuances
of how the Soviet Union's latest Five Year Plan was destined to show that Nixon
fellow who the Real Superpower was in the world.

Sounds like Amy's teachers are operating from the same playbook. MoDo herself
couldn't have penned a more garish screed, especially after a glass or two
of Beaujolais Nouveau.

As I recall, a few years after I escaped graduated high school
the fellow who fed us that nonsense up and married one of his students.
Because that's what all the avant garde hipster teacher
dudes did back then. All the girls had a crush on him; that whole "Truth to
Power" thing is just so darn sexy.

Fortunately by then I'd come across a copy of The Federalist Papers.
Publius, along with Alexis de Tocqueville and William F. Buckley, opened my
eyes to the grandeur of the Founders' vision. Liberty makes all men
(and women) equal. Not government. Freedom requires that we take
charge of our own destinies; waiting for someone else to sanctify our rights
will of necessity place that person above us, where Almighty God should
rightfully be.

Everything Amy needs to know about the true meaning of our Constitution can
be summed up in this quotation from John Derbyshire:

"Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a
well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy
free health care and 100 percent literacy."

Freedom is not free. The freedom to try requires the freedom to fail, while
granting each of us the opportunity to succeed. Our Constitution
defines limits on the government; yet she has undoubtedly been taught that
it is our government which "interprets" the Constitution as a means to
arrogating its power. Alas, Publius would not know what to make of
"emanations of penumbras" and the other New Age sophistry used to justify
the modern welfare state.

I assure you young Amy, Michele Bachmann understands these lessons. You
would do well to listen to her with an open mind rather than engage in
pedantic mockery for Extra Credit and the amusement of lefty bloggers.

A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S.
commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan,
consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive,
according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with
Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Three wives, and porn? Osama, you dog!

It's not surprising though. More than half of my "Rule 5" hits come via
Google from sites in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Yes, even Mecca. Especially Mecca. Those Mutaween dudes need to
blow off some, uh, steam after a long, hard day beating the living
shit out of immodestly-dressed young girls. And apparently pictures of
large-breasted American women are just the ticket.

Hits is hits, so here ya go fellas:

It's the least I could do to help President Obama with his
renewed Muslim outreach, right? C'mon guys, reach out. And touch yourself.
You know you want to. Porno Akbar!

Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip hasn't been funny since the
Eisenhower Administration. I can't believe anyone still reads it! Yet,
he had at least one recent fan in lobbyist Lanny Davis, but now the party's
over.

Last Friday's strip skewered Davis for taking a $300,000 contract from
Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo, presumably to burnish the dictator's
well-deserved tarnished image. Davis took umbrage at the swipe, and shot
back with an email barrage that he cc'd to the progbots at POLITICO, who
then revealed the spat in this morning's email blast to their subscribers.

Yeah, I subscribe. I like getting the progressive spin directly from the
horse's mouth. When it comes to Obama cheerleading, only Pinch Sulzberger
does it better, but since he's locked Pravda behind a paywall I'm
stuck with the freebies.

Anyway, Davis said he's working hand in glove with the State Department to
ease Gbagbo out, and demanded Trudeau print a retraction. Three
hundred grand certainly could provide a lot of easing, right?
But Trudeau's not buying it:

"It doesn't much concern me why or how you withdrew from your contract with the
loathsome Laurent Gbagbo. Your view of yourself as peacemaker notwithstanding,
I think it's fair to say that Gbagbo didn't send you $300,000 to arrange his
own exit. Indeed, he murdered countless countrymen trying to avoid exactly
that outcome."

"You may frame your resignation as a gesture of principle if you'd like, but
most people know a face-saving exit strategy when they see one," he added. "And
retaining $150,000 in 'expenses' from a man accused of crimes against humanity
certainly suggests your sense of honor had its limits."

I'm guessing he closed with, "now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

Really, if Trudeau's horse was any higher he'd need a helicopter to mount it.

"What I consider 'morally reprehensible' is your apparent willingness to make a
personal attack without checking the facts on which your attack is based, and
then to repeat and add to these personal attacks in an email, even after the
facts have been pointed out to you," Davis wrote.

"If you wish to be sanctimonious judging other people's morality, that is up
to you," Davis added. "But I believe you might consider being more conscientious
about being accurate and fair if you are going to attack someone."

Cat fight!

Who's bringing the popcorn?

Watching these two go at it I'm reminded of Henry Kissinger's famous observation
vis-a-vis the Iran / Iraq war, "It's a pity they both can't lose."

But if they keep it up I know who wins — we do! It's pure
comedy gold.

Are you a Muslim warrior who's lost his way? Has the stress of non-stop jihad
got you down? Still pining away for your 72 virgins while the military
tribunal ponders your fate? Or, maybe you're just feeling lost without Osama
bin Laden around to cheer you on?

Well I've got some good news for you! For that much needed R&R check out the
new and improved Club Gitmo, now with
conjugal visits!

Yes, Barry O, your own personal Love Counselor, will helpfully arrange for the
1001 Arabian Nights of your dreams, courtesy of the American taxpayer! Act
fast to book the Ali Baba Suite; it's our most popular, with all the comforts
of Mecca. I assure you, the Army Corps of Engineers spared no expense, you
won't be disappointed!

But please fellas, only one wife at a time. We wouldn't want you to wear
yourselves out.

Sure, he's marginally better than Jon Huntsman (who?) but only because
Newtie hasn't gushed obtusively about What A Great Guy Barry Obama is. Yet.
And of course he's no match for
a syphilitic camel, but c'mon guys Newt Gingrich? For president?
Because Bob Dole wasn't available?

... Gingrich is a devotee of the historian Arnold J. Toynbee, who meditated on
the concept of "departure and return" — the idea that great leaders have
to leave (or be banished from) their kingdoms before they can better themselves
and return as conquering heroes. One of Newt's heroes, the French general and
statesman Charles de Gaulle, embodies just this kind of romantic narrative,
having spent 12 years out of power before returning to lead his country.

More like Richard Nixon:

Mr. Nixon was humiliated and all but exiled after publicly self-destructing in
1962. He then retreated to the sidelines and watched as his party disintegrated,
leaving a vacuum of leadership and gravitas on the right that enabled Mr. Nixon
to make one of the great comebacks in political history.

Does anybody here remember how well "one of the great comebacks in political
history" worked out for us? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? We've already
got Jimmy Carter V2.0, there's no need to resurrect Tricky Dick, The Sequel
too.

A woman who died 10 minutes after arriving home from hospital for the second
time in a one day was not even seen by a doctor, a coronial inquest has found.

June Owen, 63, died after visiting Stawell Hospital in the United Kingdom.

She first visited the hospital at 5 p.m. January 21, 2008 with abdominal pain,
and a nurse gave her two codeine pills and sent her home.

At 10.15 p.m., Owen arrived by ambulance again and a nurse phoned on-call
doctor Briandha Jeremiah, who decided not to attend to examine her.

Jeremiah told the nurse to give her a Demerol injection, to relieve her pain.

Owen was released from hospital 40 minutes after her injection.

Dr. Donald Berwick, the guy President Obama picked to lead our nation's
implementation of ObamaCare, is on record praising the NHS as a "model"
of what our health care system should become.
He's the architect of Britain's NICE (National Institute for Clinical
Excellence), their version of the new Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB),
established under ObamaCare to control our nation's health care costs.

NICE wields complete power over the health care options of all residents of
Great Britain. They decide what treatments are available and who is eligible
to receive those treatments. When NICE says "no," it's almost always due to
cost considerations.

An autopsy showed that Mrs. Owen died of complications from an enlarged
heart. Treating that is probably expensive, two codeine pills and a shot
of Demerol undoubtedly saved the hospital a ton of money.

For their part, Stawell Hospital has "reviewed their policies" and "minor
changes had been made."

Yeah, I'll bet they've made "changes." Next time NHS sends someone home to
die they'll save even more money by skipping the codeine and Demerol and go
straight to some nice inexpensive placebos.

You gotta love that hospital name — pronounced as "Stay Well" —
it's good advice!

Show up sick and chances are quite good that You're Gonna Die. Welcome to
ObamaCare.

Schumer said Sunday that he will push for the creation of a "do not ride" list
for Amtrak. The list would be similar to the no-fly list that keeps those
suspected of terrorism from flying into or out of the United States.

"Anyone, even a member of al-Qaida could purchase a train ticket and board an
Amtrak train without so much as a question asked," Schumer said. "So that's why
I'm calling for the creation of an Amtrak no ride list. That would take the
secure flight program and apply it to Amtrak trains."

See, according to documents seized from Osama bin Laden's not-so-secret
Pakistani hide-out al-Qaeda may have been planning to attack trains. So
Chuck wants to bring the TSA to Amtrak. Why just Amtrak though? Aren't the
subways trains too? Or NJ Transit? LIRR? You gonna start strip-searching
commuters Chuck?

So now our state is prosecuting ThoughtCrime. Under penalty of incarceration
Rutgers student Molly Wei will enter a re-education camp for
indoctrination into "alternate lifestyles." The State will wash away all
of her improper thoughts. No doubt she will emerge a good little automaton
eager to do the bidding of her INGSOC masters.

And boy oh boy do they have plans for her. Ms. Wei will ensure that another
Rutgers student, Dharun Ravi, is locked up for all eternity. The verdict has
already been pre-determined, because his "victim" is Tyler Joe Clementi
McAllister, yet another Rutgers student, and a closeted homosexual who
committed suicide by jumping off the Tallahatchee George
Washington Bridge.

Will she tell the truth? Or merely recite whatever The State tells her to say?

Who cares! Truth is what The State decides is Truth! And when it comes to
homosexuality, Truth is subservient to Ideology. And, Ideology says anyone who
is appalled by homosexual behavior is guilty of ThoughtCrime.

The facts are this. Wei and Ravi hooked up a webcam to watch Clementi and
an unidentified man "make out" (Ravi was Clementi's roommate). That's it.
They spied on two dudes playing tonsil hockey. They may, or may not, have
told a few friends about what they saw. And they allegedly planned
to spy on Clementi and Mystery Man again at some indeterminate time in the
future.

Several days later Clementi, who incidentally never openly admitted that he
had homosexual tendencies, left a cryptic suicide note and jumped to his
death.

In the ensuing brouhaha Wei and Ravi were identified as Public Enemy #1,
mostly because they refused to express unwavering approval for Clementi's
homosexual dalliance. Mr. Ravi was indicted on fifteen counts
of bias intimidation because he purportedly harbored anti-gay sentiments
while spying on his roommate. Like I said, ThoughtCrime.

Prosecutors pounced on Wei and Ravi. They have now successfully
browbeaten the diminutive Ms. Wei into submission. In exchange for her
agreement to enter pre-trial intervention and "complete counseling for
understanding alternate life styles" they will drop all charges against her.
Oh, and she has to testify against Mr. Ravi.

I'm sure the "counseling" Ms. Wei undergoes won't in any way prepare her for
the witness stand. Snicker.

Well, certainly not overtly anyhow.

The whole thing stinks. Clementi was 19 at the time of his death. An adult.
Does he not bear some responsibility for his actions? Recall the suicide of
Missouri teen Megan Meier at the age of 13. A classmates' mother created a
fake MySpace profile to torment the young girl. She hung herself
after reading a posting from the fake profile which said the world would be
better off without her. The author of the fake profile was 49 year old Lori
Drew, who used it to send a whole host of other vindictive and cruel missives
to the teen before her death.

Lori Drew was never convicted of a crime.

Of course, Megan Meier wasn't a lesbian either.

One could arguably say that the "cyberbullying" against Megan Meier directly
contributed to her death. She didn't wait 3 days. She didn't wait 3 hours.
Megan Meier was dead 20 minutes after Lori Drew's (alleged, to
avoid legal trouble I have to say "alleged") final MySpace posting.

Prosecutors admit they do not know what motivated Tyler Clementi to kill
himself. But homosexual rights dogma leaves them no choice but to find
someone on whom to affix blame. All that matters is that Clementi was gay,
and there was someone, somewhere who might have harbored anti-gay thoughts.

Dharun Ravi fits the bill. It doesn't help that he's a Grade A jerk. But
I always thought that being a jerk wasn't a crime in this country. Which
would almost certainly still be true if Tyler Clementi had been caught on
Candid Camera making out with a hot cheerleader instead of an unnamed gay lover.

The bill would ban photographs or recordings of children when "a reasonable
parent or guardian would not expect his child to be the subject of such
reproduction."

Ah yes, the "reasonable person" standard. Because sure as shootin' what we
have in the country is an overabundance of reasonable people.

The rush to action was, of course, precipitated by a creepy guy caught taking
video of a middle school swim meet.

Last summer, a 63-year-old man was seen taping children at a local swim meet.
Police say when confronted he told them he found girls 8 to 10 sexy.

For the record, ewww. But we don't need to make everyone a potential
felon just because of one weirdo. This dude was arrested on trespassing and
disorderly persons charges, which somehow were later dropped.

Then along comes an over-excitable (yet, presumably reasonable) mom
and, there oughta be a law!

"Our town is in an uproar," said Amy Conklin, who was on vacation when the
incident occurred. Otherwise, she said, her own children would have been
there. "He is free to do as he wishes because these innocent 8-year-old girls
were not naked when he videotaped them."

See what I mean about that "reasonable" thing? Her kids weren't even
there and she's still having a cow.

Careful grandma, that graduation photo you just snapped could land you in the
slammer. Apparently even if the Conklin family happens to be a thousand miles
away at the time.

Let's introduce a little sanity into this discussion, shall we?
University of Tennessee law professor
Glenn Reynolds:

Trying to block photography in public places is not only heavy-handed and
wrong but, thanks to technology, basically useless. With the proliferation
of cameras in just about every device we carry, digital photography has become
too ubiquitous to stop.

For every creep you see holding a camera there's probably two more you don't
see. Plus, contrary to what Excitable Mom might think, most of us out there
taking pictures are focused on our own kid and we don't really care if your
little brat is in the shot or not.

Then there's that pesky Constitution which, you know, gives us the
right to take pictures in public.

Legally, it's pretty much always okay to take photos in a public place as long
as you're not physically interfering with traffic or police operations. As
Bert Krages, an attorney who specializes in photography-related legal problems
and wrote Legal Handbook for Photographers, says, "The general rule is
that if something is in a public place, you're entitled to photograph it."

A good blog combines the insightful analysis you would expect from a legacy
publication with the irreverent fun of new media. Both are present in the work of
an anonymous pundit with an odd handle.

Not too shabby for a bucket o' bolts, eh? My man the 'Bot (tag line:
"Verbose meanderings of a drunken automaton") is wittier than IBM's
Watson and a whole lot more fun too. Give 'im a read, you won't be
disappointed.

Big Brother wants to watch every mile you drive. The Obama Administration is
floating a plan to install tracking devices in every car, truck, bus, and
motor vehicle in America. Why?
To tax us by the mile of course!

The plan is a part of the administration's "Transportation Opportunities Act," an
undated draft of which was obtained this week by Transportation Weekly.

This follows a March Congressional Budget Office report that supported the
idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven.

Among other things, CBO suggested that a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax
could be tracked by installing electronic equipment on each car to determine
how many miles were driven; payment could take place electronically at filling
stations.

Also driving this bus to Orwell-ville is the fact that electric cars don't use
gas and therefore
their drivers don't pay gas taxes. Now that alternative fuel vehicles are
going mainstream the government needs to find another way to reach into our
wallets.

So they're gonna put a bureucrat in our tank. With a (metaphorical) clipboard,
to track our every move.

Welcome my son,
Welcome to the machine.
Where have you been?
It's alright, we know where you've been!

Can automatic speeding tickets be far behind?
A little GPS, a database of speed limits, a stopwatch, and presto!
they know you were doing 48 in a 35. Here's your ticket! And a bill for road
tax. Please pay the cashier.

While they're collecting data they might as well collect stats on seat belt use,
right? Your car knows if you didn't buckle up, hey the feds need to know too!
Yes folks there is no aspect of our lives which the federal bureaucracy does
not wish to invade. And control.

Welcome my son,
Welcome to the machine.
What did you dream?
It's alright we told you what to dream.

It's for our own good, and of course, the good of our fellow citizens.

"It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was
shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional
violence or as a propaganda tool," said the president.

Like the mythical Hydra of Ancient Greece the ugly specter of Abortion, Inc.'s
quest for public funding just won't die no matter how many times we whack off
one of its heads. NJ State Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) has declared
"an all-out war" on Governor Chris Christie's new budget if he doesn't
include money for Planned Parenthood.

"We are laying down the gauntlet that this budget is not going through without
the inclusion of money for family-planning centers," Weinberg said.

Oooh, I'll bet Christie is quaking in his boots.

When it comes to public funding for infanticide, what part of "no" was unclear
to you, Loretta?

Last year, for the first time in history, New Jersey taxpayers did not send one
thin dime into the coffers of Abortion, Inc. And it wasn't for lack of trying
on Ms. Weinberg's part. Three times she threw down her gauntlet, and three
times Chris Christie kicked it (and her) to the curb.

New Jersey is not alone. Indiana and Texas are following our lead, both states
will almost certainly defund Planned Parenthood this year. North Carolina and
Kansas aren't far behind. That'll make 5 states (10% of the country) where
unborn babies are safe from the Kermit Gosnell division of the American Medical
Association.

Give it up Loretta. The days of hiding the evil of abortion behind the fig
leaf of "women's health" are over. Planned Parenthood may not wish to go
quietly into the night, but I assure you of this, go it most certainly will.

Why is it that celebrities (and wannabe celebrities) feel the need to opine
on matters which they know absolutely nothing about? Don't they realize that
they'll inevitably find themselves embarassing their employers, and themselves?

Maybe it's a concussion. Maybe he just doesn't read the papers. Maybe he
wants to hang out with Rosie O'Donnell and Joy Behar. Who knows why, but
yesterday on Twitter Mendenhall sympathized with Osama bin Laden.

"What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man
they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..."

Dude. Pick up a newspaper. If you never heard bin Laden
speak, it's because you haven't been paying attention.

But, nooooo. Mendenhall had to double down on his stupidity.

"We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a
plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."

We now have our first nominee for the NFL's newest accolade — The Rosie
O'Donnell Excellence In Engineering Education Avoidance Award. I realize
that for a future pro football player college isn't exactly rigorous. But
c'mon, he had to attend at least one class, right?

I'm sure that producers from The View are already scrambling to land
him for an interview.

I always thought our State Constitution gave the governor the sole ability to
nominate Justices to the State Supreme Court. Chris Christie did that,
a year ago he nominated Anne Patterson to replace John Wallace whose
initial 7 year term had expired.

Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said "no." Sweeney refused
to hold confirmation hearings for Ms. Patterson. He wanted Wallace to be
re-appointed, because Wallace is a reliable liberal vote. And he vowed to
block Patterson's nomination until Wallace's mandatory retirement date of
March 2012.

At the time Chris Christie said he wouldn't kowtow to bullying:

In January, [Justice Roberto] Rivera-Soto announced he wouldn't seek
renomination to his seat. But Christie insisted that he would not move to
have Patterson fill Rivera-Soto's seat, arguing that doing so would cede
power to the Senate.

"I will not nominate someone to replace Rivera-Soto until Anne Patterson
gets a hearing on the Wallace seat," he said at the time. "I'm not going
to give away the constitutional authority."

Reversing course and giving in to Senate Democrats, Gov. Chris Christie today
backed away from a demand that Anne Patterson fill the Supreme Court seat that
became vacant when he refused to reappoint former Justice John Wallace Jr.

In a deal struck between the governor and Senate President Stephen Sweeney,
Christie said he will nominate Patterson, a lawyer in private practice in
Morristown, to fill a seat held by Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, who has said
he plans to leave the court in September rather than seek renomination.

The State Supreme Court embodies all that is wrong with New Jersey politics.
They rule from on high, issuing decrees in direct contravention of the will
of the people's elected representatives. The Court has imposed an income tax,
ordered specific school funding levels, chosen locations on a map where
so-called "affordable housing" must be constructed, rewritten election law
to favor Democratic Party candidates (cough, The Torricelli Switcheroo,
cough), and mandated that the taxpayers incur debt in order to finance
utopian social justice schemes. These are all rightfully the constitutional
purview of our state legislature. But that hasn't stopped activist judges
from usurping that authority.

Now the State Senate President has successfully staged a coup d'etat and
annointed himself as appointer of judicial nominees.

And people wonder why New Jersey government is so dysfunctional. Chris
Christie was supposed to fix that. He's failed.

This past Wednesday NJ voters went to the polls in the first test of Gov. Chris
Christie's new 2% property tax cap. Towns wishing to exceed the cap have to put
their spending plan up for a vote. Fourteen towns rolled the dice, and
12 cap waivers went down in flames.

The people have spoken — live within your means.

Experts say the votes signify New Jerseyans' emphasis on keeping taxes low
during a tough economy, even at the cost of cutting municipal services or
laying off workers. Local government is likely to continue shrinking, they
say, and the failure of most ballot questions this week will probably act
as a deterrent for mayors thinking of asking next year.

"The message is pretty loud and clear: Don't count on getting a levy cap
waiver from us," said Louis Rainone, a municipal attorney and partner at
DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole. "It pretty much convinced them all what they
already know, it s going to get slammed."

The ballot questions were rejected by double-digit margins in almost every
one of the 12 localities, some going down by 80 percent of the vote or more.

Yet, some people still aren't getting the message. They're pretending the
voters are rubes.

"The vote yesterday is a hypothetical scenario versus the real feeling of
being overburdened with taxes, " said Ben Dworkin, a political science
professor at Rider University. "Once the idea of severe cuts in services
comes to fruition, voters may well have a different opinion."

Dontcha just love an ivory tower academic who thinks he knows more than
the average Joe struggling to pay his bills?

Bill Dressel, executive director of the state's League of Municipalities,
said voters may be in for a "rude awakening."

You wanna know what impacts us personally, Bill? You and your profligate
buddies' bloated budgets. The answer to every problem is not
another government program. Cities and towns are going to have to learn
how to do more with less. It's a lesson any one of us who's been through
a few rounds of corporate downsizing knows all too well. The days of 9 to
5, two hour lunches, unlimited time off, and the "it's not my job" mentality
are over.

All government employees, and yes that includes cops, firemen, and teachers
too, need to stop thinking like clock-punchers and start emphasizing teamwork,
shared responsibility, and shared sacrifice.

The "rude awakening" is going to come to the guys who don't get laid off.
They'll have to work harder and longer, and this is key here, they'll be
doing it without any increase in compensation or whining about fairness.
With the prospect of unemployment hovering over their heads hopefully
they'll finally figure out that they're lucky just to have a job.

And, if somebody doesn't like the new paradigm? We won't let the door hit
him in the ass on the way out. No one is irreplaceable, and for every
disgruntled "essential" municipal employee I'm sure we can find 10 people
who'll jump at the chance to fill his job. Or not. A second (third, fourth)
wave of downsizing really serves to focus the attention of the folks who
made the cut.

Bill Dressel is like a broken record. I've listened to his mantra for years:
more, more, more; every town needs "more." The voters have spoken Bill.
Their response is "No More." You'd be wise to pay attention.